In Germany we don’t do stockings and they get most presents on Christmas Eve, but we celebrate Santa Claus on 6th of December. They got a mandala fidget thing made of metal each to form into a flower, a pond… and a few toy figurines (dinosaurs and horses, had bought a whole box Second hand almost two years ago and still have some to gift on occasions). They played very creative with them the whole week. For Christmas we don’t have strict rules. When the grandparents celebrate Christmas Eve with us we usually only gift one thing, but as they’re at my brother-in-laws house this year we decided to gift a second one each. Would be very empty under the tree otherwise 😅 But as a second gift we chose „consumables“, boxes with projects we can do together. They will get the family gifts the next day. My 4yo gets a bigger stroller (Second Hand) for her dolls and a indoor gardening experimental project with elves as theme, a boardgame (grandparents), an adventure book (My first adventure series) and - she actually asked for them! - two work books where she can wipe out her lines by the families Secret Santa (it’s us this year). Her patron gives her a bike seat for dolls she really wants. My 6yo gets a board game (Second Hand) he wished for, a experiment box where you build a volcano and actually let it break out (he loves volcanos), a „Lego“ model of the skytrain in the German city Wuppertal by the grandparents and a shirt from his favorite football team by his uncle. Don’t know what he gets by his secret Santa. His patrons normally gift a experience like a visit in a science museum or something. Both kids also already got concert tickets by their uncle. My son was at his concert today, my daughter will go on Saturday (kid’s music they like).
PS. They talked with me about own Tablets or a Nintendo as they know it from other kids. They are allowed to work on a learning app the school uses for 10 minutes a few times a week and look a few episodes after bathing on Sunday. They also have cameras they record their „concerts“ with. I explained that their screentime wouldn’t expand with new screens to choose from and that they’re also very expensive. They actually seemed to understand. I hope they won’t go too jealous of their peers the next years as we’re really more on the minimal side. But now I think they even appreciate that we’re doing a lot together and they are quite routined in decluttering what they outgrew by now. My son even tells me that he enjoys having more space vs more stuff. But sometimes the Nintendo of his classmate is very alluring I guess.
Oh wow, it all sounds so awesome, thank you for sharing with me 😊 I love how different countries celebrate in different ways and it’s super interesting to hear about it. I love the sound of the gifts they get too, all sound so intentional. Board games are always a great choice aren’t they, I put a few on dexters Wishlist that I gave out this year. Ahhh yeah, it’s difficult with other kids and family etc isn’t it, my nephew has a PlayStation and Nintendo switch where as I prefer to keep dexters time on his tablet intentional and educational, nephew plays a lot of video games 🙈 dexter always asks about them and I’ve just been saying he’s too young at the moment. It’s fantastic that your kids are great at decluttering too, I think the space is so important for their imagination and creativity isn’t it. I’m hoping one day when dexter understands more he may see things the same way, hopefully my decluttering my own things will eventually rub off on him. I talk about it a lot to him and how I’m giving my things to people who need them more than me etc I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas and new year 🥰
In Germany we don’t do stockings and they get most presents on Christmas Eve, but we celebrate Santa Claus on 6th of December. They got a mandala fidget thing made of metal each to form into a flower, a pond… and a few toy figurines (dinosaurs and horses, had bought a whole box Second hand almost two years ago and still have some to gift on occasions). They played very creative with them the whole week.
For Christmas we don’t have strict rules. When the grandparents celebrate Christmas Eve with us we usually only gift one thing, but as they’re at my brother-in-laws house this year we decided to gift a second one each. Would be very empty under the tree otherwise 😅 But as a second gift we chose „consumables“, boxes with projects we can do together. They will get the family gifts the next day.
My 4yo gets a bigger stroller (Second Hand) for her dolls and a indoor gardening experimental project with elves as theme, a boardgame (grandparents), an adventure book (My first adventure series) and - she actually asked for them! - two work books where she can wipe out her lines by the families Secret Santa (it’s us this year). Her patron gives her a bike seat for dolls she really wants.
My 6yo gets a board game (Second Hand) he wished for, a experiment box where you build a volcano and actually let it break out (he loves volcanos), a „Lego“ model of the skytrain in the German city Wuppertal by the grandparents and a shirt from his favorite football team by his uncle. Don’t know what he gets by his secret Santa. His patrons normally gift a experience like a visit in a science museum or something.
Both kids also already got concert tickets by their uncle. My son was at his concert today, my daughter will go on Saturday (kid’s music they like).
PS. They talked with me about own Tablets or a Nintendo as they know it from other kids. They are allowed to work on a learning app the school uses for 10 minutes a few times a week and look a few episodes after bathing on Sunday. They also have cameras they record their „concerts“ with. I explained that their screentime wouldn’t expand with new screens to choose from and that they’re also very expensive. They actually seemed to understand. I hope they won’t go too jealous of their peers the next years as we’re really more on the minimal side. But now I think they even appreciate that we’re doing a lot together and they are quite routined in decluttering what they outgrew by now. My son even tells me that he enjoys having more space vs more stuff. But sometimes the Nintendo of his classmate is very alluring I guess.
Oh wow, it all sounds so awesome, thank you for sharing with me 😊 I love how different countries celebrate in different ways and it’s super interesting to hear about it.
I love the sound of the gifts they get too, all sound so intentional. Board games are always a great choice aren’t they, I put a few on dexters Wishlist that I gave out this year.
Ahhh yeah, it’s difficult with other kids and family etc isn’t it, my nephew has a PlayStation and Nintendo switch where as I prefer to keep dexters time on his tablet intentional and educational, nephew plays a lot of video games 🙈 dexter always asks about them and I’ve just been saying he’s too young at the moment.
It’s fantastic that your kids are great at decluttering too, I think the space is so important for their imagination and creativity isn’t it. I’m hoping one day when dexter understands more he may see things the same way, hopefully my decluttering my own things will eventually rub off on him. I talk about it a lot to him and how I’m giving my things to people who need them more than me etc
I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas and new year 🥰